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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Webster's Bible Translation

Isaiah 19:15

Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may perform.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - War;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rush;   Tirhakah;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Rush;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bulrush;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Branch;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Rush, Rushes;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Reed;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Branch and Bough;   Head;   Palm Tree;   Philistines;   Rush;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Reed;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
No head or tail, palm or reed,will be able to do anything for Egypt.
Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall there be for Mitzrayim any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
King James Version
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
English Standard Version
And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
New American Standard Bible
There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
New Century Version
There is nothing Egypt can do; no one there can help.
Amplified Bible
There will be no work for Egypt Which head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.
World English Bible
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall there be any worke in Egypt, which the head may doe, nor the tayle, ye branch nor the rush.
Legacy Standard Bible
There will be no work for EgyptWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
Berean Standard Bible
There is nothing Egypt can do-head or tail, palm or reed.
Contemporary English Version
No one in Egypt can do a thing, no matter who they are.
Complete Jewish Bible
Nobody in Egypt will find work to do — neither head nor tail, neither [tall] palm frond nor [lowly] reed.
Darby Translation
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Easy-to-Read Version
There is nothing the leaders can do. (They are "the heads and the tails." They are "the tops and the stalks of plants.")
George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall there be any leader for the Egyptians who can make head or tail of it, or tail or head.
Good News Translation
No one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unknown, can offer help.
Lexham English Bible
And there will be nothing for Egypt to do, head or tail, palm branch or reed.
Literal Translation
And Egypt shall have no work that the head or the tail, the branch or rush, may do.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For Egipte shal lacke good councel, so yt they shal not knowe what to do, nether beginnynge nor ende, nether vpon the lode nor water.
American Standard Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
Bible in Basic English
And in Egypt there will be no work for any man, head or tail, high or low, to do.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
King James Version (1611)
Neither shall there be any worke for Egypt, which the head or taile, branch or rush may doe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neither shall the head or tayle, the braunche or reede, be able to do any worke in Egypt.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And there shall be no work to the Egyptians, which shall make head or tail, or beginning or end.
English Revised Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And werk schal not be to Egipt, that it make an heed and tail bowynge and refreynynge.
Update Bible Version
Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do.
New English Translation
Egypt will not be able to do a thing, head or tail, shoots and stalk.
New King James Version
Neither will there be any work for Egypt,Which the head or tail,Palm branch or bulrush, may do. Isaiah 9:14-16 ">[fn]
New Living Translation
There is nothing Egypt can do. All are helpless— the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
New Life Bible
And there will be no work in Egypt and nothing can be done by anyone, its head or tail, its palm branch or river-grass.
New Revised Standard
Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Egypt shall have nothing which can be don Which head or tail palm-top or rush, can do!
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him that bendeth down, or that holdeth back.
Revised Standard Version
And there will be nothing for Egypt which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Young's Literal Translation
And there is no work to Egypt, That head or tail, branch or reed, may do.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

Contextual Overview

1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of her, and I will destroy her counsel: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wasted and dried up. 6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; [and] the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. 7 The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no [more]. 8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works shall be confounded. 10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices [and] ponds for fish.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 9:14, Isaiah 9:15, Psalms 128:2, Proverbs 14:23, Habakkuk 3:17, Haggai 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:12

Cross-References

Genesis 19:4
But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
Genesis 19:5
And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where [are] the men who came in to thee this night? bring them out to us, that we may know them.
Genesis 19:7
And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
Genesis 19:8
Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do ye to them as [is] good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Genesis 19:17
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Genesis 19:22
Haste thee, escape thither: for I cannot do any thing till thou hast come thither: therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Genesis 19:25
And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Genesis 19:27
And Abraham rose early in the morning, to the place were he stood before the LORD:
2 Corinthians 6:2
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.)

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt,.... No trade or business to carry on; their rivers being dried up, there was no flax to work with, and fine linen was a principal commodity of Egypt; nor any fish to catch, or rushes to make paper of, as before observed: or it would not be in the power of their hands to deliver themselves from the Assyrians that should come against them; and that they should be deprived of wisdom and counsel, and be at their wits' end, not knowing what to do, or what step to take:

which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do: high or low, strong or weak, all ranks and orders of men shall have nothing to do; all shall be weak and dispirited, and void of counsel. By the "head" and "branch" may be meant the king and his nobles; and by the "tail" and "rush" the common people; see Isaiah 9:14. The Targum interprets the whole of their chief men thus,

"and the Egyptians shall have no king to reign, nor prince, noble, governor, or ruler.''

Jarchi explains it of the magicians, astrologers, and stargazers of Egypt, who, with all their boasted knowledge and wisdom, should not be able either to foresee or prevent the evil coming upon them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Neither shall there be any work - The sense is, that there shall be such discord that no man, whether a prince, a politician, or a priest, shall be able to give any advice, or form any plan for the national safety and security, which shall be successful.

Which the head or tail - High or low; strong or weak: those in office and those out of office; all shall be dispirited and confounded. Rosenmuller understands by the head here, the “political” orders of the nation, and by the tail the “sacerdotal” ranks. But the meaning more probably is, the highest and the lowest ranks - all the politicians, and priests, and princes, on the one hand, as the prophet had just stated Isaiah 19:11-15; and all the artificers, fishermen, etc., on the other, as he had stated Isaiah 19:8-10. This verse, therefore, is a “summing up” of all he had said about the calamities that were coming upon them.

Branch or rush - See these words explained in the note at Isaiah 9:14.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 19:15. The head or tail, branch or rushR. D. Kimchi says, there are some who suppose that these words mean the dragon's head and tail; and refer to all those who are conversant in astronomy, astrology, &c.


 
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